Final Boys of Summer Player of Week: Whitehall grad Jake Wloczewski of the Northampton Giants

Jake Wloczewski said he wasn’t making solid contact in the Blue Mountain League Championship Series, but as his manager, Ed Wandler, preached to his team over and over again: “I just put the ball in play.”

The result was the game-winning hit in Game 1 and then the game-tying hit in Game 3, both instrumental in the Giants’ three-game sweep of the Limeport Bulls for the BML title.

“This title means a lot to us,” said Wloczewski, who was a member of Whitehall High’s Lehigh Valley Conference title team in 2013. “I realize that the championship we won at Whitehall was a big deal because it was high school and I was there for four years. But this title is awesome as well. No one expected us to be here.”

Wloczewski, a talented pitcher, had Tommy John surgery after last season and missed his freshman season at Binghamton University. As a pitcher with the Giants last summer, he was 2-2 with a 2.78 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 272/3 innings.

He couldn’t take the mound and played mostly first base, but was still able to contribute offensively this summer for the Giants, hitting .383, which was the third highest average in the league. He also had three doubles, 18 RBIs and stole five bases.

“This was my third season here and I loved it,” Wloczewski said. “Next year I probably won’t be back because when you play at a Division I school, they tell you where they want you to go. I will really miss it because we have a great bunch of guys and this is a great league. You have a lot of experienced players and both the hitting and pitching are at a high level.”